You're no Mother, you're a Disgrace
by Traitor of All Traitors
Summary: Novalee's mother is in for a surprise that begins with a capital "P". Brother Correction makes her pay with the papers in her pocket. Parental crimes don't pay.


Creation began on 03-06-10

Creation ended on 03-06-10

Where the Heart Is

You're no Mother, you're a Disgrace

A/N: Based on the film version, involving the hospital scene with Novalee and her mother. Don't own the rights to the film or the novel, but I do own this story.

She couldn't believe that she had done it! Lil Nation had swindled her only daughter of her money! Now, she had a few more dollars in her pocket to help her get by, and did she feel bad about leaving her and her granddaughter to fend for themselves? No, she didn't. But, unknown to her little existence, someone had seen the dark act, and was taking steps to punish her for the wrongs she had committed to them.

_To choose a man over your child is wrong,_ thought the familiar voice of an ancient embodiment of justice, _but to take your daughter's money, knowing she'd need it to take care of her own daughter, is extremely wrong. You're going to regret what you did, Mrs. Nation, and you will not be forgiven for your crimes against parenthood!_

As Lil continued to drive in the middle of the night after leaving with her daughter's money, she felt as cheerful as can be with the five-hundred in her possession. But then her tires blew out.

"What?! Aw, no!" She whined, having to pull over and inspect the damage. "Oh, great. Both tires on the left blew out."

A police siren caught her attention and she saw a police car pull up right next to hers. An officer stepped out and approached her. He looked on the dark side, with eyes that could see through the flesh of those that were on the bright side.

"Are you Lil Nation?" He asked her.

"Yes?" She answered him.

"As in the mother of Novalee Nation and grandmother of Americus Nation?"

"Yes?"

"Oh, it's good that I found you. I'm afraid to inform you of some terrible news, but I'm gonna have to ask you to come down with me to the police station."

"Am I under arrest or something?"

"No, no. Not like that, but it concerns your daughter."

"Okay."

-

SLAM!!! Lil couldn't believe her misfortune! It wasn't even ten minutes after she came to the station that two cops slap the cuffs on her and force her into an interrogation room where the cop that she met on the road, now dressed in an office suit, and with a frown of contempt, was giving her the beat-down of her life. It turned out that the man wasn't just a cop, but a prosecutor for Oklahoma's justice system, and after doing heavy research on the past of her daughter, she had to be brought to justice, and he was there to obtain that justice.

"It's come to our attention that…your daughter, whom has gained some media fame for, apparently, giving birth to baby at a Wal-Mart, met you earlier today when you went to see her at the hospital after her ordeal from the night she went into labor at the Wal-Mart." He told her, organizing some papers he had in a suitcase. "It's odd that, you, who left your daughter for a former baseball umpire named Fred when she was five years old, would suddenly come back to see her at age seventeen. Now, that's twelve years since you left her by herself, and she's had no proper, parental guidance to show her how to live or who to trust. Just why were you there to see, after twelve years of absence, and no excuses. The truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, ma'am."

Lil, looking at the door to the room and seeing another cop out there, couldn't see past her predicament, and answered, "I just wanted to see how she was doing, if she needed any help."

"Oh, really? And how were you going to help her, just leave the hospital with five-hundred dollars we confiscated from you that we've discovered belongs to your daughter, because the president of the Wal-Mart company gave it to her along with a job to make a living, and allow her to suffer a heavy loss of finances and lose her only daughter that she plans for to not lose her mama?"

"No, I was going to check for a house or apartment nearby."

"You were leaving Oklahoma, Mrs. Nation. There's nothing but miles of nothingness on those roads. Try another lie. I dare you to."

"I, uh… Are you married?"

-

SLAM!!! Since she liked to play games, Lil was forced to play a familiar cop game: How long can you really stand the sight of prison bars until you want to confess your wrongs? And while she was in police custody, the five-hundred dollars, along with the other bills in her wallet, was taken from her and to be mailed to her daughter with a letter of apology for what her mother had done to her. Now, even if the granddaughter didn't have a grandmother to be proud of, she and her mother would at least have some financial backing.

"So, what'd they get you for?" Lil's cell mate asked her, laying on a bottom bunk of the only bunk bed. "Let me guess: Robbing a liquor store?"

"No," she answered her, "driving without a license."

"Really? That's the ugliest lie I heard from any cell mate I had. What'd you really do?"

"Stole money from my daughter."

"Hasn't anyone ever told you that if you steal money from your child, you lose your parental rights to raise them?! My father stole money from me, and I can't even call him my father. I always address him by his given name! Parents that do that aren't parents, they're disgraces, which is what you are: A disgrace. Welcome to life in the slammer, honey."

Lil couldn't believe this. She didn't even want to believe this. She refused to believe this was happening to her. She'll tell them that she hadn't done nothing wrong, that her daughter had actually given her the money, that they never wanted to see each other again. That's what she'd tell them.

-

Sadly, Lil wouldn't experience for the next twenty years for her crime. Though her daughter and granddaughter would be able to get by with the help of people that cared about them.

_Another mistake that has been…corrected,_ the voice thought again, amazed at his work in this dimension being simpler than he expected it to be. _Parenthood can be given…but it must also be earned by those people aiming to be parents._

The End.

A/N: I didn't like how Mama Lil Nation just disappeared with the money, and she wasn't my idea of a good mother if she just walked out of raising Novalee for twelve years. Now, her very status as a mother is nonexistent and the money is back where it belongs. Please, review. Peace.


End file.
